1. Field of the Invention
The present invention, in general, relates to hand grips, such as are found on the handlebars of motorcycles, snowmobiles, etc. and, more particularly, to heated types of handlebar hand grips.
Devices that require two hands to grip each side of a handlebar are well-known and include all manner of machines, including but not limited to bicycles, motorcycles, snowmobiles, and even yard tools, such as snow blowers and garden roto-tillers.
Often, the hands get cold when grasping the handlebars on certain of these types of devices. Accordingly, heated handlebar hand grips have been invented to help ameliorate cold hands when, for example, a person is driving a motorcycle on a chilly day.
At best, current heated grips include two positions, a low heat and a high heat position. Both hand grips (i.e., simultaneously both the right and left sides of the handlebars) are then set to produce the same amount of heat. While certainly better than nothing, these types of devices do not provide the degree of control or regulation that is necessary to maintain the hands at an optimum temperature.
There is, at times, a need to supply a different amount of thermal energy to one side of a handlebar grip than to the opposite side. This can be a function of the control levers that each hand may, at times, be required to operate. It may also be a function of the type of grip that is required on each side of the handlebars, where a firmer grip is required on one side and a less firm grip is required on the other side. Or, one side may offer greater protection from the wind than the other.
For example on a motorcycle, the right hand operates a rotary throttle. As such, the right hand wraps around the throttle control, squeezing and rotating it as required. This position is maintained for the majority of time, changing only on rare occasion when a front brake is applied. Otherwise, the grip around the throttle ensures ample area for contact between the right hand and the heated throttle grip. A large area for physical contact between the hand and the right side heated grip provides good thermal transfer of heat energy from the heated throttle grip to the right hand.
However, the left hand is also used to operate the clutch lever which is used during each successive gear change, whether increasing or decreasing the gear ratio. Many riders constantly maintain some or all of the fingers of their left hand in contact with the clutch lever, extending the fingers away from the left side grip. The clutch lever is not heated. The extended fingers, rather than absorbing heat from the grip, are now exposed to ambient air where they release what little thermal energy they may have to the ambient air. Only a small portion of the palm of the hand remains in constant contact with the heated left side handlebar grip, where heat can be absorbed.
Accordingly, when the same amount of heat energy is applied to both the right and left hand sides of a motorcycle handlebar, the left hand will often feel colder than the right. If the heat setting for both sides is set to its highest setting sufficient to heat the left hand, then the right hand often becomes too hot.
A similar uneven heating and cooling situation occurs whenever a chilly crosswind is removing heat from an exposed hand faster than from a downwind hand that is shielded from the wind.
Additionally, the heat setting for current devices requires the operator to remember to turn it off, lest it come on again the next time the machine i.e., the motorcycle, is used. This is undesirable for at least two reasons. First, heating may not be required the next time the machine is used. If the heated handlebar grips were turned and left on for a chilly evening ride home and then the next ride occurs on a following warm sunny afternoon, heat will not be required. Unless the operator remembers to turn the heat off after his or her ride, it will automatically resume again the next time the motorcycle is used.
Second, leaving the hand grips in a heated “on” position when heat is not required imposes a needless drain on the battery. The charging system must compensate for that drain and the ultimate source of that energy is the fuel that is consumed by the engine. Accordingly, fuel economy is compromised.
There is another related need that previous heated handlebar grips have not addressed. As mentioned above, there is a natural differential in the amount of thermal energy that is typically required between a right and left hand due to the normal position of the hand. If a left and a right side could be adjusted for a difference in temperature that felt comfortable at a particular ambient temperature, when the ambient temperature rises or falls, it is desirable to be able to increase or decrease the heat that is applied while still preserving the basic differential between the left and right hand sides.
Similarly, if an ideal and typical setting for each side were obtained and the motorcycle (machine) were shut off, it would be desirable for the device to remember and to automatically return to the previous settings for both the right and left hand sides the next time the heated hand grip control is activated. This would ensure that the remembered setting was either the ideal or close to ideal from which one could easily fine tune the previous settings. It would be especially ideal to remember and restore the differential amount between the right and left heated hand grips, as well.
As mentioned above, it is common to forget to turn heated hand grips off at the end of a ride or other type of usage. An automotive type of battery, when fully charged and during charging, will express a voltage that typically is above 12.75 VDC. When the alternator stops supplying electrical power to the battery the voltage begins to drop. Before the battery begins to substantially drain and lose its reserve capacity, it is desirable to sense this condition. It would be ideal for heated grips to automatically shut off when the battery voltage drops to about 12.75 volts.
This capability would provide the expected benefit of not draining the battery when the motorcycle (machine) was not in use. It would also provide the unexpected benefit of preventing use of the heated handlebar grips when a defect in the vehicle's charging system is occurring.
Under such a failure condition, the battery would not be properly charged by the alternator during normal use and it would begin to lose its charge. Once its output voltage fell below a predetermined level (12.75 volts), the heated hand grip control would, ideally, cease to operate.
This would reduce current drain on the battery which in turn would extend the distance that the vehicle could be used (driven). It would also alert the operator by tactile feedback to the fact that an electrical failure is occurring. The operator would sense the cooling hands and a lack of indicator lights on a control panel of the heated handlebar grips, which would inform the operator that an electrical failure was occurring. The operator would then hasten home or to a repair facility. The operator might not notice the illumination of a battery charging warning light in the vehicle's instrument cluster when the electrical failure occurred because the operator might be concentrating on road conditions, however, the resultant chilly hands would soon attract his or her attention.
It is also desirable to provide ease in adjusting the left and right hand sides to produce the desired level of heat output as well as to provide a visual indication of the relative settings of each side.
Accordingly, there exists today a need for a heated hand grip control that helps ameliorate the above-mentioned problems and difficulties.
Clearly, such an apparatus would be a useful and desirable device.
2. Description of Prior Art
Heated motorcycle and snowmobile hand grips are, in general, known. While the structural arrangements of the above described devices may, at first appearance, have certain similarities with the present invention, they differ in material respects. These differences, which will be described in more detail hereinafter, are essential for the effective use of the invention and which admit of the advantages that are not available with the prior devices.